Today's Paper
» NATIONAL

Girl, mother-in-law fall victims to honour killing

Tarn Taran (Punjab): In a case of suspected “honour killing”, a newly-wed bride and her mother-in-law were killed and the groom seriously injured by the relatives of the girl in Punjab's Tarn Taran district.

Angry over the marriage between Gurleen Kaur (19) and Amarpreet Singh (25), relatives of the girl attacked the couple's house in Brahmiwal village in Tarn Taran district, nearly 65 kilometres from here, on Tuesday night, police said. They opened fire killing the girl and her mother-in-law and seriously injuring the boy. While the girl and her mother-in-law Kuljit Kaur (50) died on the spot, the groom, who fought the attackers, ran away with serious gunshot injuries, the police said. He is still struggling for life in a hospital in Amritsar, they added.

At the time of the attack, the grandparents of the boy were also at home but the attackers spared them. The father of the boy escaped luckily since at the time of attack he was not at home, performing duty at Ferozepur district in Railway Police.

The attackers included the father, brothers and uncles of the girl, the police said, adding that they were hostile to the marriage. When the police visited the scene, they found the body of the bride lying naked with deep cuts in her neck. Her shoulder and fingers were chopped off and the body of her mother-in-law was found in a pool of blood with deep wounds on her eyes.

According to the police, the couple had an affair over the last three years and things came to light when the girl eloped with the boy last year. However, she came back to her parental home when her father agreed to her marriage with Amarpreet which was solemnised two months ago.

But the parents of the girl were nurturing a grudge, leading to the gruesome incident. Police said none of the accused was arrested. -- PTI